His Excellency the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud ‘Silanyo’, and the large government representation he led reached Erigavo, capital of Sanaag – the eastern-most region of Somaliland, on Thursday morning.
The President and his delegation participated in the city’s supplication prayers for rain with a local populace that turned out en masse in the early hours of the morning to welcome a president that wrought an indelible spot in their hearts for turning the arduous, over tiring 308-km road to Burao to a paved reality.
His Excellency the President stopped at some stretches of the road to closely inspect work done before reaching the regional capital.
The president, in his sixth day of a tour that saw him traverse the country, making innumerable stops at all vilages and towns along the way across the regions of Togdheer, Saraar, Daadmadheedh, Buuhoodle, Sool and Sanaag spent the night in El Afwein – some 90 kilometres to the south-west of Erigavo.
The day before, the hardy, down-to-earth President went down in history as the first head of a state to stop at Huddun. The last national leader to do so and live there for some time was Sayyed Muhammad Abdulle Hassan who led a twenty-year freedom fight against the British in the first quarter of the twentieth century. The President passed through Bohol before reaching El Afwein where the delegation stopped for the night.
All along the way, the President met with elders, local authorities and made stops to feed or provide water to pastoral families moving what was left of their herds and children to meager resources in remote areas.
“It was touching to see the President, himself, climb down from his car to offer water and food to children trudging hungry and thirsty along dusty camel-tracks in desolate, parched, pitifully eroded areas,” a traveler who stopped by a roadside to let the cavalcade pass at a remote feeder road in the Togdheer region told the media.
In response to a devastating drought that struck across the fledgling republic, the government of Somaliland led its constituents to respond quickly and effectively to the situation.
The President’s tour was based on such a national response which touched almost every affected household in the most affected regions of Sanaag, Sool, Haysimo, Togdheer, Daadmadheedh, Buuhoodle, Saraar, Hawd and Sahil.
The delegation distributed relief supplies and cash wherever it stopped.
